Elon Musk Is About To Launch The Heaviest Rocket In Existence — And Yes, It Can Reach Mars

SpaceX's animation of how the Falcon Heavy will look.
SpaceX
Later this year, Elon Musk's private rocket company, SpaceX, will launch a test flight of what it claims is the most massive rocket in existence: the Falcon Heavy. It looks a little like SpaceX's standard rocket, the Falcon 9, with two other Falcons strapped to its sides.

Put another way, this one ship has the liftoff thrust equivalent of 15 Boeing 747s tied together and running at full power.

Only one other rocket has been heavier than the Falcon Heavy will be, SpaceX claims. That was NASA's Saturn V ship, which carried the Apollo and Skylab missions into space from 1966 until 1973.